Golden Globe Awards all about the new shows: ‘Smash,’ ‘Girls,’ ‘Newsroom’ get nods

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Golden Globe Awards each year, loves to cozy up to new TV programming at trophy show season.

Katharine McPhee portrays Karen Cartwright in the new series "Smash,” which got a Golden Globes nom.
(Will Hart - AP)
If you’re a TV series, you might prefer the Emmys, or the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where landing a nomination is kind of like getting tenure.

At the Globes, however, you can be the hottest chick at the party one year, and out in the cold the next.

Fortunately, we’re not a TV series, we’re viewers who appreciate the Globes for what it is: the least mind-numbingly redundant dispenser of TV-show trophies.

Take, for instance, this year’s Globe nominees for best comedy or musical series, announced Thursday.

Three of five nominees were not in the running last year, and the new contenders including two freshman series: HBO’s “Girls” and NBC’s “Smash.” Bye, bye 2010 and 2011 Globe winner “Glee”!

The only returning nominees to this category are last year’s winner “Modern Family” and Matt LeBlanc’s “Episodes.” Also “new” to the category is “The Big Bang Theory” which had been nominated earlier in its run, but fallen out of favor recently.

“Everyone who is involved with ‘Smash’ whether on the outskirts or at the epicenter, is thrilled and dancing in the aisles this morning on this wonderful news,” “Smash” exec producer Steven Spielberg said Thursday morning.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be in such wonderful company and to be honored by the HFPA,” “Smash” Katharine McPhee chimed in — which is odd, since she did not receive a Globe nomination for best performance by an actress in a comedy or musical series.

Lena Dunham, creator/star of frosh series “Girls,” on the other hand, did. Ditto Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the star of HBO’s new “Veep.”

Likewise, in the race for best drama series, only two of last year’s contenders are back: HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and last year’s winner “Homeland,” from Showtime (which also secured acting noms for leads Damian Lewis, Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin). Bye Bye “Mad Men”! (Actually, “Men” which won the best drama series Globe in ’08, ‘09 and ‘10, also sat out Globe competition last January because it had not aired during the eligibility period. This time, however, “Mad” was eligible.)

Intead of “Mad Men,” the HFPA has nominated freshman drama “Newsroom” from HBO. One day earlier, the Aaron Sorkin newsroom drama got snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild, failing to land a best-drama nom, though SAG did give “Newsroom” star Jeff Daniels a best-performance nomination. Daniels also landed a Globe nom on Thursday.

Among the newly nominated for a best-drama Globe: PBS’s “Downton Abbey” which had won the Globe for best miniseries last January for its freshman season.

While “Downton” successfully morphed from miniseries to drama series, conversely, FX’s “American Horror Story’s” self-inflicted genre transformation from drama series to miniseries doesn’t seem to have panned out to well, Globe-wise. “AHS” secured a nomination for best drama series at the last round of Globe competition; this time, as a miniseries, it failed to secure a best-of-genre nomination Thursday.

As at the SAG noms one day earlier, “AHS’s” only Globe nomination Thursday went to Jessica Lange, who this time is up for best actress in a miniseries/telefilm.

“Game Change” is the most Globe-nominated program, with a tally of five, also including acting nods to Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Sarah Paulson and Ed Harris.

The Reporters Who Cover Television made much on Thursday of the fact that, once again, there are no freshman broadcast-network series in the running for best drama series, noting this annual snub has gone on since the HFPA recognized NBC’s “Heroes” way back in 2006.

This is a word game because, of course, NBC’s “Smash” is a drama series. It’s just got music.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

To pause and restart automatic updates, click "Live" or "Paused". If paused, you'll be notified of the number of additional comments that have come in.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.